Tax plan for Kalahari's Pocono water park still brewing

It likely will be mid-winter before the public gets to comment on a tax-financing plan for a $350 million project proposed by Wisconsin-based Kalahari Resorts.

MICHAEL SADOWSKI

It likely will be mid-winter before the public gets to comment on a tax-financing plan for a $350 million project proposed by Wisconsin-based Kalahari Resorts.

That's the earliest local leaders think they'll see a public meeting about Kalahari's Tax Increment Financing (TIF) plan, one of the keys to bringing the mega-resort to reality.

The group of municipal leaders shepherding the plan will meet Monday after not having met since September. The meeting is not open to the public.

The TIF committee includes members of each of the proposed project's taxing bodies: Charles Garris from the Monroe County commissioners, Meg Dilger from the Pocono Mountain School District and Anne Lamberton from Tobyhanna Township.

It also includes Ray Guernsey, director of the Redevelopment Authority of Monroe County, and Christine Dettore, director of the Monroe County Planning Commission.

Michelle Bisbing, director of marketing for the Pocono Mountains Economic Development Corporation, said the group likely will need at least one additional meeting, perhaps two, before the plan is ready for public and government inspection.

There is no deadline for when the TIF process must be complete.

Project leaders originally said a deadline was between 150 and 180 days before a public meeting, but Pocono Mountains Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Chuck Leonard said that was "more of a self-imposed deadline."

He said he was hoping to be in that range partly to take advantage of the goodwill he said the project was receiving.

"It's hard to determine the public's fatigue level in a project like this," he said.

Kalahari Resorts has proposed a massive, $350-million, 150-acre resort near Pocono Manor that at full build-out would include a 1,200-room hotel, an indoor and outdoor water park and a 300,000-square-foot convention center.

The plan is to begin construction in April with an eye toward being open by November 2014.

At Monday's meeting, Bisbing said the group will get a look at the research about the property and scenarios for what the TIF plan and its land boundary could look like.

At a future meeting, the members likely will discuss final parameters after taking the information back to their boards.

In the private meetings, no votes will be taken on any kinds of approvals.

The next step is for Tobyhanna Township to hold a special, public meeting on the plan only, possibly in February, Leonard said. There is then a 30-day period for review, and after that time, the township, school and county boards can vote on the plan.

All three must approve for it to go into effect.

A TIF does not forgive all taxes. The landowner continues paying the taxes on the unimproved land as they would if the land was vacant.

Taxes customarily paid on the improved land, however, would be forgiven for a set period of time. That money is put into a TIF fund that is used to improve the infrastructure of the property.

In Kalahari's case, the money is expected to go to road construction, sewer and water needs, and telecommunication installation.

It has not yet been determined how much potential tax money is being requested for the TIF fund, or how long a period of time it would be.